'Blue Planet II' introduced us to the terrifying bobbit worm and no one could handle it

Last night, Blue Planet II viewers were introduced to a terrifying nightmare creature called the bobbit worm. At more than a metre long, the sea beast is a freakish ocean floor-dwelling predator with jaws as sharp as daggers, that lives in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans.

To catch its prey, the bobbit (Eunice aphroditois) first stays hidden under tropical sands with its five antennae poking out. When it senses its victim, it shoots out at high speed, sometimes splitting the fish in half with its teeth and injecting them with toxins.

Sir David Attenborough explained: “It’s a giant carnivorous worm with a jaw as sharp as daggers. It pays to remember there is a Bobbit about.”

To put it mildly, viewers lost their shit at the sight of the freaky sea creature:

The worm is named after the infamous case of Lorena Bobbitt who became an international tabloid sensation in the 1990s when she sliced off her husband’s penis with a kitchen knife.

In a panic, she drove away in her car and threw the severed penis into a field. Police retrieved the missing appendage and, incredibly, surgeons were able to successfully re-attach it. After several appearances on Howard Stern, the husband John Wayne Bobbit went on to have a successful porn career with titles including the aptly named Frankenpenis.

And if you were afraid of the bobbit worm last night, you’ll be even more terrified to learn that it has an even bigger, scarier ancient cousin. Fossil remains from Ontario, Canada, revealed a huge snap-jawed relative of the bobbit worm, named Websteroprion armstrongi, that lurked in prehistoric seas around 400 million years ago, according to Earth Touch News.

Along with the disheartening but important segments on coral bleaching and rising ocean temperatures, Blue Planet II again proved why it’s among the finest shows currently on TV.